Three hundred and ten men have been given a choice, to live or to die . The one presenting the offer stood before them , unarmored and unarmed, his dark green eyes resembling the swamp, the swamp that swallows you whole when you stay in it for too long.
The offer has been placed, live as subordinates of Ceaser or die , never again to be remembered and scattered away as ashes.
But they could also stay and serve in Patagonia. The Blackthorn empire which had conquered over half of the continent and had over three million soldiers had attacked four times, and had failed every time to subjugate the so called rebellion. Instead there was a lot of progress. Food was plentiful and there was work for the masses . Day by day new pieces of technology appeared in the town which was even more organized than the imperial capital. There was only one logical answer to their dilemma, it was to submit to Ceaser the man who made everything possible and had provided stability to the people who had lost all hope.
All of them had great respect for Ceaser , mainly because of the way he made sure they were treated and now was the perfect time for them to place theirselves at his service .
Then they all knelt one by one proffesing their loyalty to Ceaser, to break the oath was cause for acts worse than death to be inflicted upon them.
Ceaser had plans for these people, as of this moment, they no longer existed as theirselves but an extension of Ceaser.
Ceaser went on to write down the formula for the production of cement. Soon people with free time on their hands took over the project and the next day , the first batch of cement was created.
Over the course of the week and the next, trenches for the foundation were dug extensively two miles in front of the current fortifications increasing the amount of land that they controlled. The trench stretched from their current location till the banks of the river that bodered the endless forest. They already had plans to explore the endless forest and incorporate it into Patagonia.
The foundations were dug , steel bars were being placed on around to act as internal stability for the walls. And then, the cement was mixed up with sand and stone , turning it into concrete which was poured into the groves that were formed in the outline of the walls.
Soon the shape of the walls had started taking shape, according to the blueprints, it would be ten meters wide and forty feet high, all to be built with reinforced concrete. A thick metal gate was also installed which was opened up using a steam engine or could be opened by fifteen men manually.
Within two months the entire front wall that separated them from the empire had been built. A pier was built by the river banks in preparation for any maritime trade or activities. For now the entire output of cement was focused on the construction of the walls .
At the other side of the empire, the emperor Quentin III had called for the great council to gather. The last time that the great council convened was twenty years ago as they started their conquest of the continent.
The grand Palace halls were solemn and quiet as the nobles and officials of the council stood in wait their mind running scenarios on the cause of their gathering .
Immediately, the heavy doors from the inner palace opened and emperor Quentin walked into the hall flanked by the imperial guards( they are different from the imperial army.)
Emperor Quentin was a bald man with a full grey beard, he was about sixty to sixty five years.
Before, when the Blackthorn empire was just the Blackthorn kingdom, emperor Quentin at the age of twenty four murders the entire royal family, seizing power for himself. He then proceeded to subjugate the nobles in the kingdom, bringing them under his heel and setting himself up as the most dominant force in the kingdom. The nobles of course revolted , but Quentin pressed harder passing a decree that annulled the rights of the nobles and even destroying some great noble houses in the process. After a while, the nobles could no longer resist and Quentin came out victorious.
Some rules were made like having a unifed currency, the crown having the right to appoint or remove a noble house from any lands that they hold and restricting the number of armies that they could field .
For barons , it was seven thousand, for viscounts it was fifteen thousand, for counts it was fifty thousand and for Dukes, it was one hundred thousand soldiers.
There was no longer a case of feudalism, the emperor had converted the government into an absolute monarchy where the crown reigns supreme, where the people and the nobles were vassals only to the emperor.
Because of this, the uprising in the town of Patagonia gave Quentin an unbearable itch that he couldn't seem to scratch, it was a stain on his person that a rebellion, an uprising was occuring in his lands.
" What do we know about this Ceaser who leads the rebellion?" The emperor asked in a calm but firm voice.
" Nothing much , your eminence. We only know that he is young perhaps eighteen or nineteen years, he had silvery blonde hair and green eyes and she that he is the creator of the weapon that defeated our armies." Baron Goodman replied in shame
" And you count Bataglia, I hear that you and your sons have attacked their settlement repeatedly but were defeated and now two of your sons have been captured by this Ceaser, is that correct?"
" Forgive me your eminence." Count Bataglia said as he groveled at the foot of the throne.
" I thought that if I could attack with a much more larger army, I would be able to free my son's from the clutch of that animal."
" Animal, such an interesting choice for words . Pray tell , why do you refer to him as an animal " Quentin asked.
" He said that after the battle, he would behead my sons , used their skulls to make wine cups and then boil their bodies to be used for food for his horses. What sort of mad uncivilized human being would think of such outrageous things." Bataglia said complaining.
The entire court felt shivers down their spines, most of them had devious habits but none of them actually had the nerve to explain that in detail the way Ceaser had , the emperor on the other hand fell into deep thought, if only Ceaser was not a rebel but a loyal citizen of the empire, he could have made great use of his talents, but sadly things couldn't workout the way he would have wanted.
" This embarrassing defeat we have suffered is causing a massive exodus of slaves and serfs all through the empire, we will use this as an opportunity to insert our spies within them and gain an idea of whom we are up against, if possible we can get the weapons or a blueprint for the weapons but until then we will be making our own artillery, the balistae and the traebuchet. Even without the blueprints for the rebel weapons, if we produce as much as possible, we will be able to overwhelm them. An expeditional force of two hundred thousand would be sent to crush this rebellion by spring so be ready."